Forensic dentist recants testimony in 34 year old Alabama rape/murder case.

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Harward’s own case had exposed flaws in the field of forensic dentistry that came to light 34 years after his wrongful conviction for rape and murder.

The McCrory case shared some eerie similarities with his own. He and the others listened as McCrory’s lawyers read an astounding admission from Dr. Richard Souviron, one of the field’s founders and a key witness in the case decades ago.

Nearly four decades later, the expert was no longer sure the bite mark found on the wife’s arm matched McCrory’s teeth.

He didn’t even sound sure anymore that it was a bite mark at all. “I no longer believe, as I did at the time of trial, that there is a valid scientific basis for concluding that the injury found on the skin of the victim in this case, assuming that the injury is in fact teeth marks, could be ‘matched’ or otherwise connected to a specific individual, such as Mr. McCrory,” Souviron wrote.

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McCrory’s attorney, Mark Loudon-Brown of the Southern Center for Human Rights, laid out the problems with the state’s case. “To my knowledge, it is the only case in Alabama where there’s a conviction that stands based on bite mark evidence,” Loudon-Brown said.

But it wasn’t enough to sway Covington County Circuit Judge Lex Short. More than 10 months after the hearing, the judge dismissed the challenge, effectively sending it to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. The next stage will test how Alabama’s judiciary treats evidence that has lost credibility in courts across the country and whether McCrory will join the long list of bite mark exonerees.

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